Flash Fiction: Nine Souls Ritual

Hello everyone! Thank you for taking the time to read these flash fiction stories, I hope you have enjoyed them for October and All Hallow's Eve. This story was written by a close friend of mine who also wrote The Haunted Medical Building. English is not her first language so I am very proud of her for wanting to participate in this journey of writing and sharing her scary ideas with you all!

Nine Souls Ritual

By: Jmse

It has been ten years since I heard from John, a close friend from middle school. He had transferred from a school in New Mexico, so he didn't make any friends back then because some of the other kids found him weird, he was a quiet and standoffish kid. John attended our school for two years then he disappeared without telling anyone. I remember the last thing I heard was that his family had moved back to New Mexico. One day I randomly got a call from an unknown number, it was John! I was surprised that he had kept my number all this time. "Hey, man! This is John. Do you still remember me?" He spoke. I responded excitedly with how are you? And was curious as to why he had reached out to me. We caught up a little bit about how our lives have been and reminisced about the times we hung out as kids. The reason for his call was that he had thought of me and how great our friendship was during his time here in Texas. He told me he was curious if I still lived in the same town and if I could make the trip to his house in New Mexico before he moved to the United Kingdom for good.

Cuervo, New Mexico is where his family home was located—a quiet small town with a population of less than a thousand. When I made the trip I thought it was quite quaint because, at the end of the downtown street, you could see this huge fancy old house with gargoyle statues on every corner. John was already waiting for me at the gate when I pulled over. I didn't recognize him at first, he is a neat-looking man now, different vibe from how I used to know him back then. He welcomed me with enthusiasm "Welcome to our humble abode!" As I entered their home, I was amazed by the interiors, everything was antiqued but well-maintained. He accompanied me to the room that I would be using for my three-day stay. It was a quiet and somber place, my room looked old but in a fancy kind. As I was looking around back to the hallway, I noticed the room next to me, there were ancient writings on the door and two big padlocks. I asked him, out of curiosity what was in there, and he just said, "Oh it was my grandma's storage room, that's where she keeps all her important items." I said "Oh, okay" and didn't pay much attention to it afterward. We were talking the whole day, and he brought up the reason why they had to move back here ten years ago. His parents died in a car accident, and he became an orphan. His grandma and aunt took the responsibility as his legal guardians from then on, he tried to reach out to me but failed to do so because a lot of things happened, and he suffered depression at that time too. He then mentioned that his grandma died two weeks ago, and his aunt left him all alone after the burial. The deployment job waiting for him in the UK was just prolonged because he's been taking care of his grandma and so now there is no reason for him to stay here anymore.

It was almost one in the morning when we called it a night, I was instantly knocked out in bed from tiredness. I was woken up around three o'clock by scratching sounds from the locked room next door, I got bothered and went to John's room; "Bro I'm hearing something from the room next door, like a scratching sound." He replied, "Don't mind it, maybe it is just a mouse, just go back to sleep, dude." Morning came, and everything was normal and quiet again. John's itinerary for the day was to show me their small town. People were oddly staring at us when we walked around the downtown area; "People here are weird, I know, they are staring at you maybe because they seldomly see visitors." After a productive outing, the day went by fast, and we went to bed early. The whole house was quiet, the howling sound of the wind on every corner of the house was the only thing you could hear. Again, around three in the morning, I was woken up by the sounds of scratching and rustling from next door. I tried to listen closely and put my ears behind the thin walls, I didn't believe that a mouse could make that kind of sound. Then, I noticed a hole in the corner of my room, I tried to peek and see what was hidden next door. I saw nothing but a red-colored object blocking my vision, I went back to bed and tried to sleep. On the third night, the same thing happened, I tried to peek again to see what was in there. I even tried to grab something that may take off whatever red thing was blocking the hole, but still, all I saw was a brighter reddish thing. On the last day of my stay, I woke up feeling sick, a throbbing headache bothered me the whole morning and I felt like I wouldn't be able to drive back home. John told me to stay until I felt better, and then he went out for a bit to get groceries and medicine.

While I was hanging out in their living room, waiting for him to come home. A bookshelf caught my eye, I wanted to check if there was something I could read to alleviate my boredom. I came across this timeworn book with no title on it, only creepy figures drawn on the cover. I started reading it and was creeped out while reading a chapter titled 'Nine Souls for a Soul'. Pages of it indicated how to resurrect one person from the dead by needing nine souls; the Witch's red eye can make somebody weak when you directly look at it and that weakness will help the ritual of snatching a soul way faster. Now it started to sink in. Horrified, I dropped the book and ran towards my room to get my keys and stuff as fast as I could. John was already at the entrance door, "Why are you in a hurry? You are not feeling well." He was trying to stop me from leaving so I had to force myself out with all the strength left in me. I didn't say anything, I drove away and didn't look back. I still cannot believe that all this time I was directly looking at a witch, eye to eye.